🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4ae7th$a1j@aimnet.aimnet.com> edwardk@aimnet.com (Edward N. Kurmudgeon) writes:

>  From: edwardk@aimnet.com (Edward N. Kurmudgeon)
>  Date: 10 Dec 1995 01:05:53 -0800
>  
>  Ed Symanzik (zik@enoch.cl.msu.edu) wrote:
>  
>  : Consumption taxes are more socially fair than income taxes.  The wealthy
>  : spend more and buy more expensive items than others.  Anyone buying a 
>  : $1 million yatch would pay $180,000 in sales tax.  However, anyone investing 
>  : $1 million to start a new business (and pay workers) would pay no sales tax.
>  
>   Bill Gates often go out to pizza or hamburger and 
>  pay the same price as you or I.  I suppose it isn't unfair that the
>  difference between the taxes they pay and the taxes I pay under a 
>  consumption tax approach is not even proportional, on a logarithmic scale,
>  to our relative wealths?

Correct.  It is not unfair.

Bill Gates receives the same legitimate services from government that
your or I do: an army to protect us from external agressors, a police
force, a court system that resolves conflict over contracts, etc.

Come to think of it, it's not clear why Bill Gates should have to pay
any more taxes than I should.  The mere fact that he *CAN* do so does
not make it any more right that to it would be to draft big strong
guys into the military for 10 years, while letting smaller people not
serve...

Come to think of it, what would be fair would be a true FLAT tax (not
a flat percentage, but a flat fee): Bill Gates pays $4k a year to the
government, I pay $4k a year to the government, and you pay $4k a year
to the government (or somthing alone those lines).  Now *THAT* sounds
fair.  We all get the same number of votes, we all have the same
freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, we all get judged by the
same judicial system....we should all pay the same taxes.

--
TJIC (Travis J.I. Corcoran)  http://www.openmarket.com/personal/tjic/index.html

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